"Oh really?" A voice came from behind them, suddenly cutting Eclipse off.
And when they turned around, they saw a green-eyed individual, staring at them as killing intent seeped out of their body.
"Silas?" Archie raised a brow while the rest looked at him in shock.
"Did Greed escape?" Life asked while taking a step forward, yet when Silas' eyes redirected themselves and looked into hers, she froze in place.
"Of course not." Silas raised a brow as well.
"Then what happened to her?" Death asked his hand on the hilt of his blade.
For some reason, he felt like something wasn't right here, and the same thing could be said about the rest of the group, even Grant who stood a couple of meters away from them.
They had always known that Silas was strong. However, they had never thought of him as being on the same level as the generals.
Sure, Silas had a lot of potential, but potential that would only flourish in the future.
Right now, potentially didn't help them at all. It was why they were so hesitant about bringing Silas in and making him a general.
Sure, Grant wasn't as strong, however, he was the sole inheritor. He was the one that the commander had chosen to replace him and was the reason why he had the armor in the first place.
The generals all believed that, if Grant was able to activate the armor, he would be strong enough to be a general. On the plus side, he was an adult and still had a lot of growing left to do. To them, Silas was a child.
Some of them understood that Silas was strong, however, to the rest he was just that... A child.
That's why they were so shocked to see him back so soon, let alone back at all.
Greed was powerful, especially with her armor.
She was trained in the way of the warrior back when she lived with her tribe, and even though that was no longer the case here, that kind of training does not fade away.
She would have been a formidable opponent to any of them...
"Well, she's dead of course." Silas crossed his arms while looking at Death with a raised brow.
He thought that he had made that obvious, but apparently, that wasn't the case.
"Dead? Like, fully dead?" Death asked with shock in his voice.
"I don't think there are stages to death, my friend." Silas chuckled, however, they could all tell that it was strained... Possibly even fake.
"Where's her corpse?" Archie asked, his voice the calmest of all of them.
Of course, he was shocked to see Silas back so soon, but out of all of them, he was probably the one with the most emotional control... Excluding Eclipse of course.
"Anyway." Silas sighed and took a step forward. Death had his hand on his blade the entire time, but the rest of them looked calmer than he did.
Death had a bad feeling, and he always trusted his instincts.
"You're still wearing your cuffs." Silas looked down at Archie's wrists.
"Ah... Well, unlike the collar, these are not powered by Greed's mana signature. Her death does not just make me free. Life and Eclipse are going to help me take them off later. For now, we have bigger things to-"
*BOOM*
Archie felt a sharp pain come from his abdomen, and when he looked down, he could see that Silas' palm had slapped onto it.
He felt the power from Silas' palm ripple through his frontal torso, but before he could speak another word, the air in his lungs forcefully left his mouth before he became a blur that shot through the air, slamming through the wooden walls and breaking through into the other side.
Archie found himself flying out of the large tree, however, he hadn't gone further than the platform itself.
He found himself sliding to the edge of the platform on the side of the tree before he turned to the side and puked out a stomach full of blood.
Eclipse, Life, Death, and Grant all took out their weapons and unleashed their killing intents.
"I knew there was something wrong when you came here. You must be under Greed's control!" Death shouted, yet Silas simply tilted his head at Death's words.
"Controlled?" Silas chuckled.
"If anyone is being controlled here, it is you guys."
Sneering, Silas took a step forward, however, he quickly found himself sidestepping as a golden light shot toward him.
"Tell me. I single handily killed Greed in one of the most anti-climactic ways possible. I didn't use any of my strong spells on her that wasn't already stored inside the axe, and I didn't even torture her for what she had done... However, I had done something that none of you had been capable of." Silas grinned with disgust and mockery.
Of course, he didn't think that he was stronger than Death, however, he could see himself beating Eclipse and Life even if they fought together.
Death, this whole time, seemed to have been keeping something to himself, and Silas worried that, if he were to use his trump card, they'd all be in real danger.
There must have been a reason he didn't use it in the first place, right?
"You guys don't get it, do you." Silas spat.
"Oh really? Enlighten us, will you." Grant took out his sword and pointed it at Silas.
"That man has been controlling us the entire time... Well, to be more specific, he's controlling you.
Me and him, we plan ahead. We manipulate those closest to us to make sure we get what we want. That's what is similar about us, and it will most likely remain that way for a very long time...
But, call me a hypocrite, but I don't like when I'm lied to, especially when it is in order to control me, and I doubt you guys like being lied to either." Silas looked them all in the eyes before sighed again.
"But I guess, we're all liars in that sense, aren't we." Silas' eyes moved toward Death who was still standing there, looking at him with a dumbfounded expression.
Without skipping a beat, Silas shot forward while channeling fire energy through his body.
His figure turned into a blur as it shot right past all of them in an instant and appeared behind Grant.
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